U.S. v. Wilhelm

• Decision Date: 03 April 1996
• Docket Number: No. 94-5764,94-5764
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Lauren Eric WILHELM, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Page 116

80 F.3d 116

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Lauren Eric WILHELM, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 94-5764.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

Argued Dec. 7, 1995.

Decided April 3, 1996.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, at Statesville. Richard L. Williams, Senior District Judge, sitting by designation. (CR-94-9-MU)

ARGUED: Edmund L. Gaines, Homesley, Jones, Gaines & Fields, Statesville, North Carolina, for Appellant. Harry Thomas Church, Assistant United States Attorney, Charlotte, North Carolina, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Sharon D. Jumper, Jumper & Broadway, Charlotte, North Carolina, for Appellant. Mark T. Calloway, United States Attorney, Charlotte, North Carolina, for Appellee.

Before ERVIN, MICHAEL, and MOTZ, Circuit Judges.

Reversed and remanded by published opinion. Judge ERVIN wrote the opinion, in which Judge MICHAEL and Judge MOTZ joined.

OPINION

ERVIN, Circuit Judge:

Appellant Lauren Eric Wilhelm appeals the district court's denial of his motion to suppress evidence seized under a search warrant. State police obtained the warrant based only on a vague tip from an anonymous, unproven informant. We conclude that the warrant was not supported by probable cause and that the constitutionality of the search may not be established by the good faith exception set forth in United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984). Therefore, we reverse the district court decision and remand for further proceedings.

I.

The facts of this case, as set forth in the appellant's brief and "accept[ed] and adopt[ed]" by the government, are as follows:

On March 7, 1994, Detective Sandy Proctor of the Iredell County Sheriff's Office applied for a search warrant to search the home of the Appellant, Lauren Eric Wilhelm. On that same day, Proctor had received a telephone call from an individual who stated that he or she had observed marijuana in Wilhelm's home. In the affidavit for the warrant, Proctor stated the following:

On 3-7-94 applicant received information from a reliable source who is a concerned citizen, a resident of Iredell County, a mature person with personal connections with the suspects and has projected a truthfull [sic] demeanor to this applicant. Informant stated to applicant the directions to this residence and the directions have been confirmed to be true by the applicant through surveillance on this date. The informant described the substance he/she believed to be marijuana and the informants [sic] description is consistent with the applicants [sic] knowledge of marijuana. Informant described transactions between residents and patrons that purchase marijuana at this residence and his/her descriptions of these actions are consistent with applicants [sic] knowledge of how marijuana is packaged and sold. Informant has personally observed residents selling marijuana at this residence within the last 48 hours. Informant also observed a quanity [sic] of un-sold marijuana at this residence within the last 48 hours.

On the basis of this information, the [state] magistrate approved the application and issued a search warrant permitting the search of Wilhelm's home and all outbuildings and vehicles located on the property. The search resulted in the discovery of the contraband which was the subject of the indictment in this case.

At a hearing to consider a motion to suppress the evidence seized pursuant to the search warrant, two significant additional facts concerning the application for the warrant were revealed. First, Proctor confirmed that no additional information other than what appeared in the application was given to the magistrate. Thus, the warrant was issued solely on the basis of the material contained in Proctor's affidavit. Second, Proctor admitted that the informant was a person that she did not know and had never met prior to the telephone call, and that she did not meet with the individual after the call.

Wilhelm was named in a two-count indictment on April 6, 1994. The indictment charged him with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), and use and carrying of a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1). He moved to suppress evidence obtained under the search warrant. The U.S. magistrate judge recommended denying this motion, and the district court adopted the magistrate judge's memorandum. Wilhelm then conditionally pled guilty to count 1, retaining the right to appeal the adverse ruling on the suppression motion. He timely appealed to this court under 28 U.S.C. § 1291.

II.

Issues of law are reviewed de novo. Bose Corp. v. Consumers Union of the United States, Inc., 466 U.S. 485, 104 S.Ct. 1949, 80 L.Ed.2d 502 (1984); Rawl v. United States, 778 F.2d 1009 (4th Cir.1985), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 814, 107 S.Ct. 67, 93 L.Ed.2d 25 (1986). A district court's determination of probable cause under the Fourth Amendment is an issue of law, and is thus reviewed de novo. United States v. Miller, 925 F.2d 695, 698 (4th Cir.1991).

When reviewing the probable cause supporting a warrant, a reviewing court must consider only the information presented to the magistrate who issued the warrant. United States v. Blackwood, 913 F.2d 139, 142 (4th Cir.1990).

A.

Search warrants must be supported by probable cause to satisfy the dictates of the Fourth Amendment. United States v. Harris, 403 U.S. 573, 577, 91 S.Ct. 2075, 2079, 29 L.Ed.2d 723 (1971). The Supreme Court addressed "the application of the Fourth Amendment to a magistrate's issuance of a search warrant on the basis of a partially corroborated anonymous informant's tip" in Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 217, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 2321, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983). An Illinois police department received an anonymous letter alleging that a Bloomington couple was involved in drug dealing; the letter specifically detailed how the couple travelled to Florida to buy drugs. Id. at 225, 103 S.Ct. at 2325. The police surveilled the couple and substantially corroborated the information in the letter. Id. at 225-27, 103 S.Ct. at 2325-26.

The Supreme Court agreed with the Illinois Supreme Court that the letter standing alone could not provide probable cause to believe that drugs could be found in the couple's car and home: "The letter provides virtually nothing from which one might conclude that its author is either honest or his information reliable; likewise, the letter gives absolutely no indication of the basis for the writer's predictions regarding the Gateses' criminal activities." Id. at 227, 103 S.Ct. at 2326; see also United States v. Miller, 925 F.2d 695, 698 (4th Cir.) ("An informant's tip is rarely adequate on its own to support a finding of probable cause."), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 833, 112 S.Ct. 111, 116 L.Ed.2d 80 (1991).

The Court then adopted a "totality-of-the-circumstances" test to determine whether probable cause supported a search warrant. Id. at 238, 103 S.Ct. at 2332. Two factors are key to this analysis: the informant's "veracity" or "reliability" and his or her "basis of knowledge." Id. at 233, 103 S.Ct. at 2329. Appellate courts should pay "great deference" to magistrates' findings of probable cause. Id. at 236, 103 S.Ct. at 2331. But this does not mean that warrants based on conclusory allegations should be upheld: "Sufficient information must be presented to the magistrate to allow that official to determine probable cause; his action cannot be a mere ratification of the bare conclusions of others." Id. at 239, 103 S.Ct. at 2332.

In Alabama v. White the Supreme Court suggested how an anonymous tip might be corroborated sufficiently to provide the "reasonable suspicion" necessary for an investigatory stop. ^* 496 U.S. 325, 110 S.Ct. 2412, 110 L.Ed.2d 301 (1990). The police received a call stating that a woman would leave a specified address in a particular car, go to a particular motel, and have with her about an ounce of cocaine in a brown briefcase. Id. at 327, 110 S.Ct. at 2414. As in Gates, the Court noted that the tip standing alone would not provide a reasonable suspicion because it gave no indication of the caller's reliability or the source for his or her information. Id. at 329, 110 S.Ct. at 2415. The Court concluded, however, that by the time the officers stopped the suspect, they had corroborated the tip sufficiently to provide reasonable suspicion. They had observed the woman leave the specified address within the timeframe predicted by the tipster, and watched her drive away in the specified vehicle, following the most direct route to the destination named by the caller, although they stopped her before she actually reached that destination. Id. at 331, 110 S.Ct. at 2416. The Court credited the tip's inclusion of a "range of details relating not just to easily obtained facts and conditions existing at the time of the tip, but to future actions of third parties ordinarily not easily predicted." Id. at 332, 110 S.Ct. at 2417 (quoting Gates, 462 U.S. at 245, 103 S.Ct. at 2335).

The Fourth Circuit has explained that in evaluating whether an informant's tip establishes probable cause, the degree to which the report is corroborated is an important consideration. United States v. Lalor, 996 F.2d 1578, 1581 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 485, 126 L.Ed.2d 436 (1993). In the Lalor case, the court found an informant's tip reliable when the police corroborated the suspect's address, vehicle, and alias, and determined that he had been arrested for drug possession just a few days before the warrant was issued, confirming his involvement in drug activity. Id. at 1581; see also United States v. Miller, 925 F.2d 695 (4th Cir.) (upholding warrantless arrest based on informant's tip, which police substantially corroborated by observing the suspect), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 833, 112 S.Ct. 111, 116 L.Ed.2d 80 (1991)...